


As Long As You're Mine

by HarperGray



Category: Rent - Larson
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-01
Updated: 2015-07-01
Packaged: 2018-04-07 04:13:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4248879
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HarperGray/pseuds/HarperGray
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everyone teams up to help Collins give Angel a very special gift. Sappy as all hell and partly inspired by a song from Wicked.</p>
            </blockquote>





	As Long As You're Mine

Angel sat on the floor with Mimi, flipping through a scrapbook Mimi had made in high school. The whole gang had gathered at the loft to celebrate Joanne’s victory in a difficult case she’d been working on; they were just waiting for Maureen (late as usual) to get there.  
“Ooh! I absolutely LOVE that dress! Was that your prom?” Angel asked excitedly.  
“Yeah, I think that was my junior year. It was the only time I had the money to go out and buy a real prom dress, even if it was secondhand.”  
“I never went to prom. My school wasn’t exactly ‘drag-queen-friendly’ and what’s the fun of prom if you can’t wear a beautiful dress?” Angel’s voice was wistful as she gazed with a bit of longing at Mimi’s prom photo.  
In the kitchen, Collins was stirring a large pot of, well, something, but turned around at this remark to look at his Angel with a gleam of sudden inspiration in his warm eyes. In the silence that fell, Angel was the only one who didn’t catch on immediately. After a moment or two, she blinked and looked up to find everyone staring at her. As understanding dawned on her, she stood up slowly, looking straight at Collins.  
“I get to go to prom?” she whispered.  
He caught her in his arms and swung her around as Mimi leapt up in sudden excitement.  
“We can decorate the loft! And we can make punch and get all dressed up and dance and everything!”  
“I can do the music,” Roger offered.  
“Oh, and I can do the photography!” Mark jumped in.  
“I’ve got to find something to make a dress out of,” Angel said.  
”Oh, no, you don’t!” Joanne suddenly jumped in, and everyone stopped to look at her. “If we’re going to do this, we’re going to do it right. I’ll BUY you a dress, and we’ll get corsages, the whole works.”  
Angel squealed and ran to hug her, just as Maureen (finally) walked through the door.  
“What’s going on? Why’s everyone so happy?” She caught sight of Joanne’s face. “Oh, I mean besides your trial, pookie! You know I’m incredibly proud of you!” She threw her arms around Joanne, making loud smooching noises.  
“We’re planning a prom!” Mimi said, smiling. “It’ll be great, we’ll all be dressed up and gorgeous.”  
“Dressed up?” Maureen said. “I can wear my catsuit!”  
“Maureen, you are NOT going to wear leather to prom!”  
“But, Joanne—”  
“NO LEATHER!”  
“Fine! I’ll just wear a dress.” Maureen pouted for nearly half a minute before being distracted by thinking about what to do with her hair.  
****************  
A week later, the plans had all been put into motion; the decorations were up, Joanne had taken the other girls out shopping while the boys had rented tuxes, and the night was about to begin. While a limo was way beyond their budget, they had agreed to meet at Joanne and Maureen’s place and walk back to the loft.  
“It’ll be our own Grand March!” Mimi giggled.  
So Mark, Roger and Collins waited on the street while the others put the finishing touches on their makeup and hair. Joanne and Maureen emerged first, followed closely by Mimi in a sparkling red dress. When Angel stepped out on the street, Collins nearly stopped breathing. She was dressed in a ball gown, white with tiny pink flowers gracing the hem and neckline. She was also wearing a brand new wig for the occasion, and sleek black waves cascaded halfway down her back. She was glowing, and Collins could tell that she had never felt more beautiful than she did at this moment. For his part, he’d think she was sexy wearing a paper sack, but the light in her eyes was a sight he would never forget.  
Reaching for her hand, he pulled her close.  
“Angel,” he whispered softly. “Angel, you are unforgettable.”  
“Don’t just remember me for my looks, Tom Collins,” she responded with a lift of her eyebrows. “Remember me for my passion, the paradise that I imagined.” Then she tossed her head slightly. “Now, let’s do this night right!”  
Laughing, the group moved down the street toward the loft.  
Once there, Maureen pulled an enormous bowl of punch out of the refrigerator, while Roger quietly sat down and tuned his guitar. Mark laughingly stood next to a backdrop that Mimi had made by using fabric paint on an old white sheet, and gestured to Angel and Collins to come pose for their picture. After snapping several, the two moved out onto the ‘dance floor’ to start things off with a slow song.

Two hours later, Roger beckoned to Mimi before saying, in his best rock star voice, “All right, ladies and gentlemen, one more live song and then I’m going to turn things over to the DJ. Now, for your listening pleasure: a special guest performance by the lovely and talented Mimi Marquez!”  
As Roger started playing the intro to a song, Angel rested her head on Collins’ shoulder, her eyes full of dreams.  
“You know,” she said softly, “this might be one of the last memories we get to make.”  
Collins closed his eyes. The last thing he wanted to think about was the future, knowing what was bound to catch up with them eventually.  
“Don’t think about that,” he begged her. “Let’s not think about anything but right now…..right here….” He wrapped his arms around her and held her as tightly as he dared. As if on cue, Mimi began to sing.

“Kiss me too fiercely, hold me too tight,  
I need help believing you’re with me tonight.  
My wildest dreamings could not foresee  
Lying beside you with you wanting me.  
Just for this moment, as long as you’re mine,  
I’ve lost all resistance, and crossed some borderline.  
And if it turns out it’s over too fast,  
I’ll make every last moment last….  
As long as you’re mine.”

Roger joined in, as Angel and Collins, clinging tightly to each other, lost themselves in the music and in their movement to it.

“Maybe I’m brainless, maybe I’m wise  
But you’ve got me seeing through different eyes.  
Somehow I’ve fallen under your spell,  
And somehow I’m feeling it’s ‘up’ that I fell.”

Collins thought back to that first time they had met; when he had been on the ground in that alley, cursing fate and his life, and suddenly Angel had appeared and nothing would ever be the same again. It no longer mattered that life could be harsh and unkind; it no longer mattered that every moment drew both of them closer to a final confrontation with the disease that now lived in their veins. All that mattered was this love.

“Every moment, as long as you’re mine,  
I’ll wake up my body and make up for lost time.  
Say there’s no future for us as a pair,  
And though I may know, I don’t care  
Just for this moment, as long as you’re mine,  
Come be how you want to,  
And see how bright we shine!  
Borrow the moonlight until it is through,  
And know I’ll be here, holding you,  
As long as you’re mine….”

Neither of them noticed that the song had ended, though it wouldn’t have mattered if they did. They saw nothing but each other as they held on tightly and just kept dancing. Seeing this, the others moved silently downstairs to Mimi’s apartment, leaving Angel and Collins alone, dancing to the music their two hearts made.


End file.
